Contact slashes retail staff

By Mark Reynolds

The axe will fall on 57 jobs as Contact Energy shakes up its retailing operations.

This represents about 15 per cent of the firm's 400 staff.

Those out of a job are mainly telephone call centre and support staff who work for 10 retail electricity and gas businesses bought by Contact since last year.

The proposed restructuring will cut retail staffing from 212 to 155.

Retail staff account for about half of Contact's workforce, with the remainder in generation and trading operations.

The job losses are part of a reshaping of the electricity industry since law changes last year.

Contact chief executive Paul Anthony said the restructuring was a necessary part of integrating new businesses.

Before last year, Contact did not have retail operations and acquired 485,000 customers through the acquisition of existing operations.

The businesses it bought comprised the retail electricity operations of Top Energy in Northland, Counties Power, Eastland Energy, Hawkes Bay Power, Electra of Horowhenua, Tasman Power, Mainpower in North Canterbury and United Energy in the lower South Island.

Contact also bought the Enerco retail gas business servicing Auckland, Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Palmerston North and Levin.

Mr Anthony said the staff cuts, along with other changes, would halve the cost of servicing retail customers.

The changes include centralising billing systems, call centres and support functions.

Contact communications manager Bruce Thompson said the rationalisation would be reflected in better service and lower costs, which would ultimately lead to either lower prices or bigger shareholder returns.

Contact is the country's most widely held listed company, with about 212,000 shareholders.